Say what you want…

It’s funny how Facebook, linkedin, and twitter work. You post a video of a cat jumping and instantly you get a million views. But talk about serious stuff, and less people comment and like your posts, mainly because they are fearful. And when people post links to Variety or any other article, almost nobody likes, or shares. You never bite the hand that feeds you, even when that makes you miserable. Over the years, people have been scared to complain about low rates in the animation and VFX business, for fear the clients will not come back to those complaining. I know lots of people who work for clients who pay low rates, pay late and treat us poorly, and yet we keep working for them, regardless.

We all loose by maintaining these relationships. We get the blues, we start hating the work we love and we go bankrupt because people will not even pay what is fair for our work. And when people rip you off, or stiff you or simply don’t want to pay because you will get that nice credit in IMDB, remember that the credit will not pay the bill at the grocery store, it will not grow your business and will certainly not move the industry forward. Exactly the opposite.

So when you share, post and like, make sure that we are all heard. When the studio that made the best VFX of the year can’t sustain itself, and so many people in this industry are loosing their jobs, we should at least like them and share them more than the cat, the pony, or the cute little puppy.